Stuart Pearce says ‘excellent’ Aston Villa star stole the present in win over Arsenal

Arsenal suffered a devastating 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime, surrendering their five-point lead atop the Premier League desk in dramatic style.

Emiliano Buendia’s stoppage-time winner accomplished a outstanding comeback for Unai Emery‘s facet, dealing a major blow to the Gunners’ title aspirations.

Matty Money gave Villa a deserved first-half lead with a thunderous end on the again put up within the thirty sixth minute, capitalizing on Arsenal’s struggles to comprise the hosts’ energetic urgent.

The suitable-back’s half-volley from a deflected cross caught David Raya off guard, sending Villa Park into raptures and rewarding the house facet’s dominant opening interval.

Mikel Arteta responded decisively on the interval, introducing Leandro Trossard and Viktor Gyokeres for the ineffective Eberechi Eze and Mikel Merino.

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It could be a head turner.

The Belgian substitute made an instantaneous impression simply seven minutes into the second half, changing a rebound after Emiliano Martínez might solely parry Bukayo Saka’s preliminary effort. Trossard’s poacher’s intuition on the again put up hauled Arsenal stage and appeared to shift momentum decisively within the guests’ favour.

Arsenal dominated possession all through the second interval, creating quite a few alternatives to grab victory. Noni Madueke struck the facet netting late on when well-positioned, whereas Declan Rice orchestrated assaults from deep regardless of battling the calf grievance that troubled him towards Brentford midweek.

Nonetheless, Villa refused to give up tamely.

Emery’s tactical substitution proved impressed as Buendia changed Matty Money within the eighty fifth minute, pushing the hosts right into a extra aggressive attacking form with Lamare Bogarde dropping to right-back.

The Argentinian playmaker delivered the decisive intervention deep into stoppage time, reacting quickest to a free ball inside Arsenal’s penalty space and firing residence along with his proper foot to safe all three factors.

The defeat represents Arsenal’s second lack of the marketing campaign and ends their 18-match unbeaten run throughout all competitions. Extra considerably, it permits Man Metropolis the chance to scale back the hole on the summit to only three factors ought to they defeat Sunderland later immediately.

For Villa, the victory extends their outstanding residence kind to only one defeat of their final 25 league matches at Villa Park, sustaining their problem for Champions League qualification whereas sitting third within the desk.

It additionally begs the query, are Emery’s males now real title contenders?

Stuart Pearce says Youri Tielemans stole the present towards Arsenal

With that debate now set to rumble on, former England defender Stuart Pearce has picked out one Villa star to thank for a completely unbelievable afternoon for Emery within the Midlands.

Commenting on the sport for talkSPORT, Pearce named his Participant of the Match — £150,000-per-week midfielder Youri Tielemans.

The Belgian worldwide apparently stole the present towards Arsenal, with Pearce calling his show within the engine room ‘excellent’.

Tielemans, who’s out of contract in 2027, has simply made a agency case to the Villa hierarchy on the subject of his long-term future.

The 28-year-old returned to full health pretty not too long ago after lacking six league video games with a calf downside and was overlooked of the beginning eleven for Villa’s thrilling 4-3 win at Brighton.

Emery’s choice to begin Tielemans immediately was a masterful choice, and that efficiency will give the participant large confidence forward of Villa’s journeys to FC Basel and West Ham.